How can Broadcasters succeed in the New Media Space

In the previous posts I have tried to set the environment of where the New Media & Traditional Broadcasters are now intersecting. In learning the rules for the New Media Space lets discuss how traditional Broadcasters can succeed in regaining their former position of Strength.

I have already laid out the new media rules, how the Pull model needs to supplant the push model. Now to look at how the Broadcasters can put the new model to work for them, and how they can monetize this New Media Space

LOCAL NEWS

As I referred to in the first post, most Local stations are cutting costs in their Local News Productions. WRONG. For the Local Stations the News is the only Content that they own. And if ” Content is King” they are killing their only currency in this new space. The redevelopment of the Local News Broadcast, is one major key to reconnect with your community. For a Station to begin this process, they need to capitalize on the following trends.

Crowdcasting

Crowdcasting is the intersection of broadcasting and crowdsourcing The process of crowdcasting uses a combination of push and pull strategies to first engage an audience and build a network of participants and then harness the network for new insights. These insights / concepts can include new product ideas, new service ideas, or new branding messages.

In the New Rules, we know that people want to create their own content, and with the massive installed base of camcorders, video enabled mobile phones (i.e. The IPHONE) there is a large portion of your viewing audience who have the tools to get comments, breaking news, local sports coverage to your station, via email or FTP.

Set up a program to pre-approve & pre-screen people who want to submit content to you. It would be taking the Mob Casting, or Crowd Casting model, and give it a broadcasting outlet. It would be cleared through your news desk, and allow your viewing audience to have more content input into your Station. The more ties your community has with your station, can only mean better ratings.

For example , If you had 20 pre-approved Iphone users at the airport during a Plane Crash, You would have 20 “Crews” at the scene that could be sending you content, before your crew has left the station. As they would have been pre screened, the issue of “ownership” of the content would have been previously assigned to the Station.

Content Aggregator

Content aggregators refer to applications, client software or Web based, which maintain subscriptions to feeds that contain audio or video media enclosures. They can be used to automatically download media, playback the media within the application interface, or synchronize media content with a portable media player.

As a content aggregator, you would be able to bring content to your viewers by any device they want. Be it over the air on your main channel, over the air on your secondary channels, your website, or to their mobile device. The type of content that could be delivered is only limited by the creativity of your production staff.

Syndicated Content

In discussing Syndicated Content in the context of a Local Station wanting to utilize the content that they have paid dearly for in a Extension of a Station New Media Outreach, I find it quite unbelievable that the Local Stations have “Bought” the story that if Syndicated Content is out on the ” Internet ” it would violate the DMA Boundaries of their Contract.

For some time now, edge serving & streaming video companies such as Akamai , and others have had the ability to Delineate and Deliver streams of Video strictly within a DMA. They use the identification if the DMA’s IP Addresses, and with that Schema can insure the DMA Geographic Identity. They would also have the restrictions to allow the content to play only, and not be recorded by the end user.

It would be entirely consistent with the Syndicated contracts to have the ability to broadcast a Program, over the air, and deliver a program video stream of the syndicated content from a menu of available shows, delivered all within the Stations DMA.

With this simple rework , you would be in essence creating your own HULU, with the Ad revenues that would come from providing this basic service to your Viewers.

For many, many years the Local stations have paid incredible sums to the Syndicated Television Producers, for the local stations to air programs that we all know & love. To help & strengthen the Local Television Stations, it would be in the syndicators best long term interests to allow this for no or Small additional costs.

This is in no means, a complete primer for New Media Integration for Broadcasters. My hope is that it will be the start of discussions on how we can transform the Traditional Broadcast Industry to insure it’s future strength and viability.

I would like to thank Mr. John Price, who as a long time friend & veteran of the Media Asset Management & Broadcast Automation space, saw this convergence coming down the road. We were working out MAM & New Media, before there were even the terms.

I would also like to give credit to Wikipedia for the definitions of terms in this Post.